Lately my time’s been mostly spent surrounded by family. This is a joy for me hard to express in such a short space, but it’s the kind of emotion that stretches your heart. It’s the reason I moved back here, moments like these. To see my nieces grow up. To be friends with my brothers. To celebrate all the birthdays of my parents. And this month I’ve spent time doing all of those things.
In January, as a post-Christmas celebration of sorts, I took my goddaughter and niece Aurora to Color Me Mine to do a little painting. To my knowledge, she’d not done anything quite like that before. Can you tell whose is whose? She did very well for being only five years old. It was good to spend time with her solo, without her two younger (and adorable) sisters stealing the attention.
Speaking of stealing attention, check out this heart breaker. This is my other niece, Ava, doing her best impression of Aunt Rose. I swear she’s the only person in this world who thinks I’m cool. Her future intentions are to grow up to be just like me: a cat lady donned in either a scarf and red sunglasses. I still don’t understand why she thinks me so hip.
In January, we celebrated my mother’s 50-something birthday. This is the 20th year I’ve baked her a cake; I’ve been doing it since I was 8. Each year she requests the type she wants, and this January was Funfetti. I took the easy way out and bought a box mix. Cooking a funfetti cake from scratch is apparently no joke! She enjoyed this splash of fun on her big day.
And as Feb. 14 fast approaches, I’m making my annual valentines. These go to an elite crew of people who I love so much it hurts. I might spoil the surprise for one or two readers, but this year I’m working with secret cut-out doors. Each card will be a different color scheme and hold a secret message inside the doors. I’ve only got two completed… seven more to go! Here’s hoping I get them finished and out the door on time.
So this month has been spent doing a whole lot of loving. And I intend on continuing to spread that emotion in other directions and to other people, too.
That sounds so wonderful. One of the hardest things about moving away from my family has been missing birthdays and other little celebrations. We try to catch up on my many visits back, but it’s not quite the same.
I’ll be lucky to get my store bought Valentine’s sent out the door in time (keep forgetting to buy stamps!), so once again I am incredibly impressed by your talent and thoughtfulness.
Hope you have a great weekend, Rose!
I think you’re cool!
The older I get, the more precious I am finding my family. I have my close friends, but I think it’s hard to keep up the “superficial” friendships in your 20′s when life gets busy. Family is always a constant, even if we don’t get to see them all the time.
Your hand-made cards never cease to impress!